World War I Today

'December snow.' Hand-painted watercolor calendar for December 1917 by Schima Martos. Particulates from a smoking kerosene lamp overspread the days of December, and are labeled 'December höra,' 'December snow.' The first five days or nights of the month show a couple at, sitting down to, or rising from a lamp-lit table. The rest of the month the nights are dark, other than four in which the quarter of the moon shows through a window, or Christmas, when the couple stands in the light of a Christmas tree.

Wednesday, March 15, 1916

"What a to-do in town today! There was a whole crowd of women in front of the baker's shop chattering excitedly and waving their bread cards. They were abusing the baker and blaming the bakeries for all the shortages. Then along came a policeman who tried to calm the crowd. The policeman — I know him, and he's a horrible man, very bad manners — grabbed a fat woman who was carrying a milk can. She fell down and there was pandemonium. The fat woman got back on her feet, raised her milk can and smashed it into the policeman's face. Then all the women jumped on the policeman. The baker saved the day by opening his shop. The mob stormed inside. I heard them shouting for a long time. Bread! Give us bread! Our children need something to eat!"

Quotation Context

Excerpt from the diary of Piete Kuhr, then a 14-year old German schoolgirl living in Schneidemühl in East Prussia. The British blockade of Germany led to rationing by early 1916.